An England Story: From Dancehall To Grime, 25 Years Of The Mc In The Uk

[coll]: An England Story
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/28/08
25 years of MCing, British style – which is mostly a mashup of dancehall and hip hop, but with something uniquely British besides. Quite a range of styles and voices, only a few of which have made it back to the western hemisphere (Papa Levi and Tippa Irie are two who are big in Jamaica and therefore internationally.) So there’s probably a fair amount of stuff here that would be hard to hear otherwise…
FCCs on CD 1 tracks 8-9, one on CD 2 track 8, and maybe in the chorus of CD 1 track 3.
I like CD 1 tracks 4-6 and track 10, and CD 2 tracks 5 and 10 best.
CD 1:
1. 4:00 **very sparce midtempo instrumentation, another version of “Ghetto Story” by Baby Chams, but about being part of the DJ culture in the UK.
2. 3:32 ***fun uptempo dancehall groove (basically all percussion) with low male vocals and female chorus. Some great bits of rap.
3. 3:21 FCC? I can’t tell if they’re saying “fuckin” in the chorus?… *uptempo synthesized orchestral jungle groove, amusing bits of pick-up conversation.
4. 3:41 ****Sweet! Downtempo dancehall/Indian mashup. Lovely female chanting and tabla combined with British dancehall rap.
5. 4:03 ****downtempo skank, rub-a-dub dancehall stylee with Rasta lyrics.
6. 3:23 ****long intro, midtempo dancehall riddim and lyrics in praise of dirty dancing. Made for nicing up de dance.
7. 3:36 ***horns and vocal samples intro, hard midtempo jungle riddim with more layers of samples, vocals by hugely popular MC.
8. 3:55 FCC: “fuck” “shit” **beats and long spoken vocal intro, riddim is mostly electronic percussion, interesting stuff, hyperspeed rap with strong English accent (as opposed to Jamaican.)
9. 4:30 FCC “fuckin” (several) **trap drums and talking. Fast jungle groove, amusing chat. In fact, the last several seconds is just different people laughing.
10. 4:51 ****nonsense vocal intro, wonderful midtempo rub-a-dub skank, made for the dance hall.
11. 3:14 ***sparse downbeat electronic dancehall riddim, monotone rap, the obligatory love song to pot.
CD 2:
1. 3:43 ***jaunty midtempo piano-based skank with female toasting. Fun sound, unusual dub production.
2. 3:35 ***downtempo syncopated electronic dancehall riddim, rather crazed toast, pretty female chorus.
3. 4:06 **rather uptempo electronic dancehall (often used riddim), high-speed rap.
4. 6:11 **forceful dancehall beat, multiple voices, modern life lyrics.
5. 7:06 ****sci-fi movie intro, then midtempo jungle beat, vocal samples and one lead vocal. Terrific club stuff – begs for dancing.
6. 3:31 ***minimalistic clanking riddim, female talking. Lots of squeaking and jangling. You can see where Lady Sov got a lot of her inflections.
7. 3:30 *midtempo electronic with a bit of calypso rhythm, sung vocals.
8. 4:34 FCC: “shitlist” *downtempo dancehall with “If I Were a Rich Man” samples, thick British accent.
9. 3:35 **very downtempo bass-heavy riddim, cover of the huge Althea and Donna hit. The vocals are a bit slick, but the riddim is cool.
10. 3:13 ****classic uptempo rub-a-dub skank, fun toast by a long-time star.